Handling user plane congestion in a wireless communication network

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe devices, methods, computer-readable media and systems configurations for handling user plane congestion in a wireless communications network. A packet data network gateway (PGW) and/or a serving gateway (SGW) may proactively transmit a congestion notification to a mobility management entity (MME) including a level of congestion of the PGW and/or SGW. The MME may receive congestion notifications from a plurality of PGWs and/or SGWs. The MME may receive a request for a packet data network (PDN) connection from a user equipment (UE), and may take an action in response to the request based on the reported levels of congestion. The action may include selecting a PGW and/or SGW for the PDN connection, notifying the UE that the PDN connection cannot be established, and/or negotiating with the UE to terminate or modify one or more existing PDN connections in exchange for establishing the new PDN connection.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/563,508, filed Jul. 31, 2012, entitled “HANDLING USER PLANECONGESTION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK,” which claims priorityto U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/595,576, filed Feb. 6,2012, entitled “ADVANCED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNIQUES,”the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to the field ofcommunications, and more particularly, to handling user plane congestionin a wireless communication network.

BACKGROUND

Many wireless communication networks include a user plane (also referredto as a data plane) for handling packet data network (PDN) connectionswith a user equipment (UE). When the UE requests a PDN connection, therequest is routed through a mobility management entity (MME), a servinggateway (SGW), and a packet data network gateway (PGW). However, the SGWand/or PGW may become overloaded due to congestion caused by other UEsand/or other PDN connections. In this case, the request may be rejectedby the PGW, and a notification is routed back to the UE that the PDNconnection cannot be established.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitatethis description, like reference numerals designate like structuralelements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by wayof limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a wireless communication network inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a user equipment in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a mobility management entity(MME) in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a serving gateway in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a packet data network gateway inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing packet datanetwork connection requests with a congested user plane in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 7a is a flowchart illustrating a negotiation method that may beperformed by a user equipment and a mobility management entity inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 7b is a flowchart illustrating an alternative embodiment of anegotiation method that may be performed by a user equipment and amobility management entity.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of proactive congestionnotification in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 9 schematically depicts an example system in accordance withvarious embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are notlimited to, methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatusesfor handling user plane congestion in a wireless communication network.

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described usingterms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that alternate embodiments maybe practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes ofexplanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrativeembodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatalternate embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Inother instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in ordernot to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discreteoperations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understandingthe illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description shouldnot be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily orderdependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in theorder of presentation.

The phrase “in some embodiments” is used repeatedly. The phrasegenerally does not refer to the same embodiments; however, it may. Theterms “comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless thecontext dictates otherwise. The phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or(A and B). The phrase “A/B” means (A), (B), or (A and B), similar to thephrase “A and/or B”. The phrase “at least one of A, B and C” means (A),(B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C) or (A, B and C). The phrase“(A) B” means (B) or (A and B), that is, A is optional.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the artthat a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations maybe substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described, withoutdeparting from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations ofthe embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intendedthat the embodiments of the present disclosure be limited only by theclaims and the equivalents thereof.

As used herein, the term “module” may refer to, be part of, or includean Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory(shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software orfirmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitablecomponents that provide the described functionality.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a wireless communication network 100 inaccordance with various embodiments. Wireless communication network 100(hereinafter “network 100”) may be an access network of a 3rd GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE) network such asevolved universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) terrestrialradio access network (E-UTRAN). The network 100 may include a basestation, e.g., enhanced node base station (eNB) 104, configured towirelessly communicate with user equipment (UE) 108. The network 100 mayfurther include a mobility management entity (MME) 112, a servinggateway (SGW) 116, and/or a packet data network gateway (PGW) 120. TheSGW 116 and PGW 120 may be included in a user plane (also referred to asthe data plane) of the network 100.

As shown in FIG. 2, the UE 108 may include a communications module 204and a packet data network (PDN) module 208 coupled to one another atleast as shown. In some embodiments, the UE 108 may further include adisplay 212 to display images, data and/or other information to theuser, and a user interface 216 for a user of the UE 108 to inputdata/commands and/or otherwise interact with UE 108. In someembodiments, the display 212 may be integrated with the user interface216, such as in a touch-screen display. The user interface 216 mayalternatively or additionally include other means for user input, suchas a keyboard, one or more buttons, and/or a voice control system.

The communications module 204 may be further coupled with one or more ofa plurality of antennas 220 of the UE 108 for communicating wirelesslyover network 100. The UE 108 may include any suitable number of antennas220. One or more of the antennas 220 may be alternately used as transmitor receive antennas. Alternatively, or additionally, one or more of theantennas 220 may be dedicated receive antennas or dedicated transmitantennas.

As shown in FIG. 3, MME 112 may include a communications module 304 anda management module 308 coupled to one another. The communicationsmodule 344 may be configured to communicate with the eNB 104, UE 108,SGW 116, and/or PGW 120, whether directly and/or indirectly. Thecommunications module 344 may communicate with the other components ofnetwork 100 through a wired or wireless connection.

FIG. 4 shows SGW 116 and FIG. 5 shows PGW 120 in accordance with variousembodiments. The SGW 116 may include a communications module 404 coupledwith a congestion module 408 (also referred to as SGW congestion module408), while the PGW 120 may include a communications module 504 coupledwith a congestion module 508 (also referred to as PGW congestion module508). In some embodiments, the SGW 116 and PGW 120 may be integratedinto a single device. In other embodiments, the SGW 116 and PGW 120 maybe separate devices.

In various embodiments, the eNB 104, UE 108, MME 112, SGW 116, and/orPGW 120 may include more or less components than are shown in FIGS. 1-5.

The network 100 may include a plurality of SGWs 116 and/or PGWs 120. ThePGWs 120 may provide one or more PDN connections for the UE 108. The PDNconnections may allow the UE 108 to access an external network, such asthe internet. The PDN connections may be routed through an SGW 116. Insome embodiments, one or more PGWs 120 may be associated with anindividual SGW 116. In other embodiments, a plurality of SGWs 116 may becommunicatively coupled with a given PGW 120 so that any of theplurality of SGWs may be used to route the PDN connection from the UE108 to the PGW 120.

In various embodiments, the congestion module 508 of the PGW 120 maydetermine a level of congestion of the PGW 120. The congestion may bedue to ongoing PDN connections handled by the PGW 120 for UEs of thenetwork 100 (e.g., UE 108) and/or other factors. The PGW 120 mayproactively report the level of congestion to the MME 112. For example,referring again to FIG. 1, the level of congestion may be included in aPGW congestion notification 124 transmitted to the MME 112 (e.g., viathe communications module 504). By “proactively,” it is meant that thePGW congestion notification 124 is sent independently of any UE requestsfor a PDN connection that may be received by the PGW 120.

In some embodiments, the PGW congestion notification 124 may include alevel of congestion associated with one or more access point names (APN)associated with the PGW 120.

Additionally, or alternatively, the congestion module 408 of the SGW 116may determine a level of congestion of the SGW 116 (e.g., due to ongoingconnections handled by the SGW 116 and/or other factors). The SGW 116may proactively report the level of congestion to the MME 112 (e.g., inan SGW congestion notification 128 transmitted to the MME 112 via thecommunications module 404).

In some embodiments, the level of congestion may indicate the congestionat the PGW 120 or SGW 116 relative to one or more thresholds. Forexample, the level of congestion may indicate whether the congestion ishigher or lower than a threshold value. Alternatively, multiplethreshold values may be used. For example, the congestion level mayindicate if the congestion is above a high threshold, indicating a highcongestion level, or below a low threshold, indicating a low congestionlevel. The high threshold and low threshold may be set at differentcongestion levels. In some embodiments, the PGW 120 and/or SGW 116 mayaccept new connections when the congestion level is low congestion, andmay not accept new connections when the congestion level is highcongestion.

In other embodiments, a plurality of high thresholds and/or a pluralityof low thresholds may be used. The level of congestion may be one of aplurality of levels indicating high congestion (e.g., H1, H2, . . . Hn)or one of a plurality of levels indicating low congestion (e.g., L1, L2,. . . Ln).

In other embodiments, the level of congestion may report a numericalvalue representing the congestion of the PGW 120 or SGW 116 (e.g., 90%congestion).

In various embodiments, the PGW 120 and/or SGW 116 may send congestionnotifications 124 and/or 128, respectively, to the MME 112 periodically(e.g., at a pre-defined interval) and/or if their respective level ofcongestion changes.

In various embodiments, the MME 112 may receive proactive congestionnotifications 124 and/or 128 from the plurality of PGWs 120 and/or SGWs116 of the network 100. The management module 308 of the MME 112 maymanage access to the PGWs 120 and/or SGWs 116 by the UE 108 based on thelevels of congestion included in the proactive congestion notifications124 and/or 128. In embodiments in which the proactive congestionnotification 124 for a PGW 120 indicates a congestion level for one ormore APNs associated with the PGW 120, the MME 112 may manage access tothe APNs independently of the PGW 120 as a whole (e.g., may deny accessto a particular APN associated with a PGW, but allow access to anotherAPN associated with the PGW).

For example, the MME 112 may receive a PDN connection request 132 fromthe UE 108 requesting setup of a new PDN connection for the UE 108. ThePDN connection request 132 may be sent from the UE 108 to the eNB (shownas transmission 132 a in FIG. 1), and then forwarded from the eNB 104 tothe MME 112 (shown as transmission 132 b in FIG. 1). The MME 112 maytake an action in response to the request 132 based on the levels ofcongestion of the PGWs 120 and/or SGWs 116. In some embodiments, the MME112 may only consider the levels of congestion of either the PGWs 120 orSGWs 116 when choosing the appropriate action, while in otherembodiments the MME 112 may choose the appropriate action based on thelevels of congestion of both the PGWs 120 and the SGWs 116.

The MME 112 may send a notification 136 to the UE 108 to notify the UE108 of the selected action. For example, the action may include allowingthe PDN connection and selecting a PGW 120 and/or SGW 116 to provide thePDN connection for the UE 108. In that case, the notification 136 maynotify the UE 108 that the PDN connection is successful. Alternatively,the action may include denying the PDN connection and notifying the UE108 (via the notification 136) that the new connection cannot beestablished. As another option, the MME 112 may negotiate with the UE108 to terminate or modify an existing PDN connection in exchange forestablishing the new PDN connection. The notification 136 may initiatethe negotiation process, as further discussed below.

Different actions may be assigned to different threshold levels. Thethreshold levels assigned to each action may be determined by anoperator of the network 100. In some embodiments, the MME 112 maydetermine the appropriate action based on an indication of an overallcongestion of the PGWs 120 and/or SGWs 116, such as an average of thereported congestion levels. In other embodiments, the MME 112 maydetermine the appropriate action based on a subset of the reportedcongestion levels, such as the lowest and/or highest reported congestionlevels.

The MME 112 may attempt to establish the new PDN connection if one ormore of the PGWs 120 and/or SGWs 116 have reported congestion levels lowenough to accept new connections (e.g., below a low threshold). In someembodiments, the PGW 120 may be selected prior to selecting the SGW 116.

The MME 112 may select a PGW 120 to provide the new PDN connection basedon the levels of congestion reported for the plurality of PGWs 120. Insome embodiments, the MME 112 may select the PGW 120 having the lowestreported congestion level of the plurality of PGWs 120. In someembodiments, other factors may be taken into account in addition to thereported congestion level. In that case, the MME 112 may select a PGW120 from a group of PGWs 120 for which the reported congestion levelindicates that new PDN connections are available, even if the selectedPGW 120 does not have the lowest reported congestion level.

In some embodiments, there may be a targeted PGW 120 that is preferredand/or required by the network 100 for the new PDN connection with theUE 108. In that case, the MME 112 may look at the reported congestionlevel for the targeted PGW 120 to determine if the targeted PGW 120 isable to accept the new PDN connection. If the targeted PDN 120 is ableto accept the new PDN connection, the MME 112 may set up the PDNconnection between the UE 108 and the targeted PGW 120.

If the MME 112 is able to select a suitable PGW 120 for the new PDNconnection, the MME 112 may then select an SGW 116 through which toroute the new PDN connection. In some embodiments, the SGW 116 may beselected from the plurality of SGWs 116 based on their reportedcongestions levels. In embodiments in which a specific SGW 116 isassociated with the selected PGW 120, the MME 112 may look at thereported congestion level of the specific SGW 116 to determine if theSGW 116 can accept a new connection.

The MME 112 may set up the new PDN connection with the UE 108 if the MME112 is able to successfully select a suitable PGW 120 and a suitable SGW116. The MME may forward the PDN connection request to the PGW 120.Additionally, the MME 112 may transmit a notification to the UE 108 thatthe PDN connection is successful.

If there are no suitable PGWs 120 and/or SGWs 116 for the MME 112 tochoose from (e.g., no PGWs 120 and/or SGWs 116 with a low reportedcongestion), the MME 112 may send the notification 136 to the UE 108indicating that the PDN connection cannot be established. The proactivenotifications 124 and/or 128 may allow the MME 112 to provide thenotification to the UE 108 relatively quickly compared with conventionalsystems.

In conventional systems that do not provide proactive congestionnotifications, the PDN connection request must be routed from the MME tothe PGW through the SGW. The PGW will reject the PDN connection requestif the PGW is congested, and the rejection is then routed back throughthe MME to the UE. This adds considerable delay between when the UEsends the PDN connection request and when the UE receives thenotification that the PDN connection cannot be established. Furthermore,the PDN connection request is sent to the PGW even when the PGW isoverloaded. Additionally, an overloaded SGW is not considered inconventional systems.

In contrast, the MME 112 described herein may quickly notify the UE 108if the PDN connection cannot be established. Additionally, the MME 112may not forward the PDN connection request 132 to the PGW 120 if the PGW120 is overloaded (e.g., has a high reported congestion level).Moreover, the MME 112 may consider the congestion level of the SGWs 116when deciding whether to establish the requested PDN connection and/orselecting the SGW 116 to use for the PDN connection.

For example, FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 in accordance with variousembodiments. At 604, a UE (e.g., UE 108) transmits a PDN connectionrequest to an MME (e.g., MME 112). At 608, the MME may transmit anotification to the UE indicating that the connection was unsuccessful.The MME may transmit the notification, for example, if the PGWs and/orSGWs have reported congestions above a threshold. The MME may haveproactive congestion notifications from the PGWs and/or SGWs, so the MMEmay not need to forward the PDN connection request to the PGWs or SGWsbefore responding to the UE. Accordingly, the UE may receive thenotification of unsuccessful connection relatively quickly.

In some embodiments, and/or under some circumstances, the MME 112 mayinitiate a negotiation process with the UE 108 instead of denying thePDN connection. The negotiation process may give an option to the UE 108to terminate or modify one or more existing PDN connections in exchangefor establishing the new PDN connection.

A flowchart of an example negotiation process 700 is shown in FIGS. 7aand 7b . In some embodiments, the negotiation process 700 may beperformed via non access stratum (NAS) signaling. As further discussedbelow, FIG. 7a illustrates an embodiment in which the UE sends anegative response to a negotiation message, while FIG. 7b illustrates anembodiment in which the UE sends a positive response to the negotiationmessage.

At 704, a UE (e.g., UE 108) may send a PDN connection request to an MME(e.g., MME 112) indicating the UE wishes to establish a PDN connection.At 708, the MME may send a negotiation message to the UE giving the UEan option to terminate or modify one or more existing PDN connections inexchange for establishing the new PDN connection. The MME may send thenegotiation message, for example, if the reported congestion levels ofthe PGWs and/or SGWs are above a threshold.

In some embodiments, the UE may present the option to a user of the UE(e.g., via a display). For example, the display may list the existingPDN connections for the UE with an option to terminate or modify one ormore of the existing PDN connections. In some embodiments, modifying thePDN connection may include reducing the bandwidth and/or quality ofservice (QoS) required by the PDN connection. In some embodiments, theUE may present multiple options to the user. For example, the user maybe able to choose one or more PDN connections to terminate or modifyfrom among a plurality of existing PDN connections. The user may also begiven the option not to modify any of the existing PDN connections, inwhich case the new PDN connection may not be established. The user mayselect an option (e.g., using a user interface of the UE).

In other embodiments, the UE may determine a response to the negotiationmessage autonomously (without presenting the option to the user). Forexample, the UE may determine the response based on priority settings ofthe UE. In some embodiments, the priority settings may be set and/ormodified by the user. The priority settings may prioritize certain typesof PDN connections over other types of PDN connections.

In some cases, as shown at 712 in FIG. 7a , the UE may transmit anegative response to the MME in response to the negotiation message.Accordingly, at 716, the MME may deny the requested PDN connection andmaintain the existing PDN connections.

Alternatively, as shown at 720 in FIG. 7b , the UE may transmit apositive response to the MME in response to the negotiation message.Accordingly, at 724, the MME may terminate or modify one or more of theexisting PDN connections (e.g., as dictated by the response) andestablish the requested PDN connection.

The negotiation process 700 may give the UE flexible options formanaging and/or prioritizing PDN connections on the network.

In embodiments in which the PGWs and/or SGWs are configured to reportmultiple congestion levels, the MME may choose different actionsdepending on the reported congestion levels. Additionally, oralternatively, the operator of the network may set the congestion levelsthat trigger different actions. For example, a first high congestionlevel may cause the MME to negotiate with the UE to set up the new PDNconnection, while a second high congestion level that is higher than thefirst high congestion level may cause the MME to deny the new PDNconnection without negotiation.

Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may be permitted to have a givennumber of concurrent PDN connections depending on the reportedcongestion level. For example, the UE may be permitted to have threeconcurrent PDN connections at one congestion level, two concurrent PDNconnections at a higher congestion level, and one concurrent PDNconnection at an even higher congestion level. The MME may allow, deny,and/or negotiate the PDN connection request depending on the reportedcongestion levels and the number of existing PDN connections of the UE.

In some embodiments, the MME 112 may proactively report the congestionlevel of the user plane (e.g., the PGWs 120 and/or SGWs 116) to the UE108. FIG. 8 illustrates a method 800 for proactively reporting thecongestion level in accordance with various embodiments. At 804, an MME(e.g., MME 112) may proactively transmit a notification of the userplane congestion level to a UE (e.g., UE 108). The notification may betransmitted independently (e.g., not in response to) any request for PDNconnection received from the UE.

The transmission of the congestion notification may be triggered by anysuitable conditions and/or sent periodically. For example, the MME 112may proactively report the congestion level to the UE 108 if the overallcongestion of the user plane is above a threshold to indicate that PDNconnections are not currently available and/or may be difficult. In someembodiments, the MME 112 may additionally or alternatively report thecongestion level to the UE 108 if the overall congestion is below athreshold to indicate that PDN connections are currently available. Thismay provide useful information for the user of the UE 108 to decidewhether to request a PDN connection or not. As a result, the network 100may receive fewer PDN connection requests when the user plane iscongested.

The eNB 104, UE 108, MME 112, SGW 116, and/or PGW 120 described hereinmay be implemented into a system using any suitable hardware and/orsoftware to configure as desired. FIG. 9 illustrates, for oneembodiment, an example system 900 comprising one or more processor(s)904, system control logic 908 coupled with at least one of theprocessor(s) 904, system memory 912 coupled with system control logic908, non-volatile memory (NVM)/storage 916 coupled with system controllogic 908, a network interface 920 coupled with system control logic908, and input/output (I/O) devices 932 coupled with system controllogic 908.

The processor(s) 904 may include one or more single-core or multi-coreprocessors. The processor(s) 904 may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphicsprocessors, application processors, baseband processors, etc.).

System control logic 908 for one embodiment may include any suitableinterface controllers to provide for any suitable interface to at leastone of the processor(s) 904 and/or to any suitable device or componentin communication with system control logic 908.

System control logic 908 for one embodiment may include one or morememory controller(s) to provide an interface to system memory 912.System memory 912 may be used to load and store data and/orinstructions, for example, for system 900. System memory 912 for oneembodiment may include any suitable volatile memory, such as suitabledynamic random access memory (DRAM), for example.

NVM/storage 916 may include one or more tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable media used to store data and/or instructions, forexample. NVM/storage 916 may include any suitable non-volatile memory,such as flash memory, for example, and/or may include any suitablenon-volatile storage device(s), such as one or more hard disk drive(s)(HDD(s)), one or more compact disk (CD) drive(s), and/or one or moredigital versatile disk (DVD) drive(s), for example.

The NVM/storage 916 may include a storage resource physically part of adevice on which the system 900 is installed or it may be accessible by,but not necessarily a part of, the device. For example, the NVM/storage916 may be accessed over a network via the network interface 920 and/orover Input/Output (I/O) devices 932.

Network interface 920 may have a transceiver 922 to provide a radiointerface for system 900 to communicate over one or more network(s)and/or with any other suitable device. The transceiver 922 may implementcommunications module 204. In various embodiments, the transceiver 922may be integrated with other components of system 900. For example, thetransceiver 922 may include a processor of the processor(s) 904, memoryof the system memory 912, and NVM/Storage of NVM/Storage 916. Networkinterface 920 may include any suitable hardware and/or firmware. Networkinterface 920 may include a plurality of antennas to provide a multipleinput, multiple output radio interface. Network interface 920 for oneembodiment may include, for example, a wired network adapter, a wirelessnetwork adapter, a telephone modem, and/or a wireless modem.

For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 904 may be packagedtogether with logic for one or more controller(s) of system controllogic 908. For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 904 maybe packaged together with logic for one or more controllers of systemcontrol logic 908 to form a System in Package (SiP). For one embodiment,at least one of the processor(s) 904 may be integrated on the same diewith logic for one or more controller(s) of system control logic 908.For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 904 may beintegrated on the same die with logic for one or more controller(s) ofsystem control logic 908 to form a System on Chip (SoC).

In various embodiments, the I/O devices 932 may include user interfacesdesigned to enable user interaction with the system 900, peripheralcomponent interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interactionwith the system 900, and/or sensors designed to determine environmentalconditions and/or location information related to the system 900.

In various embodiments, the user interfaces could include, but are notlimited to, a display (e.g., a liquid crystal display, a touch screendisplay, etc.), a speaker, a microphone, one or more cameras (e.g., astill camera and/or a video camera), a flashlight (e.g., a lightemitting diode flash), and a keyboard.

In various embodiments, the peripheral component interfaces may include,but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serialbus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface.

In various embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to,a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient lightsensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be partof, or interact with, the network interface 920 to communicate withcomponents of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system(GPS) satellite.

In various embodiments, the system 900 may be a mobile computing devicesuch as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tabletcomputing device, a netbook, a smartphone, etc. In various embodiments,system 900 may have more or less components, and/or differentarchitectures.

Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described hereinfor purposes of description, a wide variety of alternate and/orequivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the samepurposes may be substituted for the embodiments shown and describedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thisapplication is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of theembodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended thatembodiments described herein be limited only by the claims and theequivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus to be employed by a mobilitymanagement entity (MME), the apparatus comprising: communicationscircuitry to communicate with a plurality of serving gateways (SGWs) anda plurality of packet data network gateways (PGWs) of a wirelesscommunication network; and management circuitry coupled to thecommunications circuitry, the management circuitry configured to:receive congestion notifications from one or more of the PGWs or SGWs toindicate respective levels of congestion for the one or more PGWs orSGWs; receive a packet data network (PDN) request from a user equipment(UE) to establish a new PDN connection with the wireless communicationnetwork via an evolved Node B (eNB); transmit, to the UE responsive tothe received PDN request and a determination that the levels ofcongestion of the one or more PGWs or SGWs indicate a high networkcongestion level that is greater than a threshold, a negotiation messagegiving the UE an option to terminate or modify an existing PDNconnection associated with the eNB in exchange for establishing the newPDN connection; receive a negative response to the negotiation message;deny the new PDN connection based on the negative response; and maintainthe existing PDN connection based on the negative response.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the request for the new PDN connection isreceived by the MME via the eNB.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe option to modify the existing PDN connection includes an option toreduce a bandwidth and/or a quality of service associated with theexisting PDN connection.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PDNrequest is a first PDN request, wherein the new PDN connection is afirst new PDN connection, wherein the negotiation message is a firstnegotiation message, wherein the existing PDN connection is a firstexisting PDN connection, and wherein the management circuitry is furtherconfigured to: receive a second PDN request from the UE or another UE toestablish a second new PDN connection with the wireless communicationnetwork via the eNB; transmit, to the UE or the another UE if the levelsof congestion of the one or more PGWs or SGWs indicate the high networkcongestion level that is greater than the threshold, a secondnegotiation message giving the UE or the another UE an option toterminate or modify a second existing PDN connection associated with theeNB in exchange for establishing the second new PDN connection; receivea positive response to the second negotiation message; establish thesecond new PDN connection based on the positive response; and terminateor modify the second existing PDN connection based on the positiveresponse.
 5. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media havinginstructions, stored thereon, that when executed cause a user equipment(UE) to: transmit a packet data network (PDN) request to establish a newPDN connection with a wireless communication network via an evolved NodeB (eNB); obtain, responsive to the PDN request, a negotiation messagegiving the UE an option to terminate or modify an existing PDNconnection associated with the eNB in exchange for establishing the newPDN connection; transmit a negative response to the negotiation message;wherein the new PDN connection is denied and the existing PDN connectionis maintained based on the negative response.
 6. The one or more mediaof claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause theUE to obtain a message from the eNB to indicate that the new PDNconnection is denied and the existing PDN connection is maintained basedon the negative response.
 7. The one or more media of claim 5, whereinthe request for the new PDN connection is transmitted to a mobilitymanagement entity (MME) via the eNB.
 8. The one or more media of claim5, wherein the option to modify the existing PDN connection includes anoption to reduce a bandwidth and/or a quality of service associated withthe existing PDN connection.
 9. The one or more media of claim 5,wherein the PDN request is a first PDN request, wherein the new PDNconnection is a first new PDN connection, wherein the negotiationmessage is a first negotiation message, wherein the existing PDNconnection is a first existing PDN connection, and wherein theinstructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: transmit a secondPDN request to establish a second new PDN connection with the wirelesscommunication network via the eNB; obtain, responsive to the second PDNrequest, a second negotiation message from the eNB giving the UE anoption to terminate or modify a second existing PDN connectionassociated with the eNB in exchange for establishing the second new PDNconnection; transmit a positive response to the second negotiationmessage; establish the second new PDN connection based on the positiveresponse; and terminate or modify the second existing PDN connectionbased on the positive response.
 10. The one or more media of claim 5,wherein the negotiation message is obtained by the UE responsive to thePDN request and an indication that a congestion level of a user plane ofthe wireless communication network is above a threshold.